Mindi R. Englart
Here we learn some basics about poetry, so we can use these ideas to analyze and understand the ways in which rap is poetic.
Days 1-5:
Give students a handout with a glossary of poetic terms. I have included a glossary at the end of this unit which is excerpted from Susan Santovasi’s Yale Teachers Institute unit entitled: “The Poetry We Sing: A Women's Perspective.” Also give students a handout that has examples of key terms. You can use the following examples, or come up with your own.
Assonance:
when a particular vowel sound is repeated.
Example: Notice the use of the “o” sound throughout these lines from “Red Lilies” by Barbara Guest. “Snow erupts from thistle/to toe; the snow pours out of you.”
Alliteration:
when a particular consonant sound is repeated.
Example: Notice the alternating use of the “s” and “t” sounds throughout these same lines from “Red Lilies” by Barbara Guest. “Snow erupts from thistle/to toe; the snow pours out of you.”
Allusions:
helps the reader recognize something-person, place, story, historical event-outside the poem. Today’s music is full of allusions to television, other musicians, cartoons, famous people, even other rappers. Allusions can add layers of meaning to your poem. Look at these lines from “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: “My brother’s doin’ bad, stole my mother’s TV/Says she watches too much, it’s just not healthy/ “All My Children” in the daytime, “Dallas” at night/Can’t even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight”.
Symbols:
people use symbols to stand for things, whereas similes and metaphors are used to compare things. For example, a wedding ring is an actual object. But it can also be a symbol of love, commitment, or marriage. To use another example, a cross can stand for suffering or Christianity or faith. So if you use the word cross in a poem you can get a lot of meaning from just the one word.
Similes:
explicit comparison. Often uses the word “like” or “as”.
Example: His yell was like the whistle of a steam train/It grew louder and stronger as it came near.
Metaphors:
metaphors make a comparison without using the word “like” or “as”. Example: My love is not like a dying flower; My love is a dying flower.
Repetition:
can help to stress or emphasize something important. Notice the effect of repetition in Ntozake Shange’s poem “get it and feel good”: “whatever good there is to get/get it & feel good/whatever good there is to get/get it & feel good/ get it & feel good”
Rhyme:
there are a number of types of rhyme (including perfect rhyme-top/pop; and slant rhyme-amaze/please). There are end rhymes and internal rhymes (which occur within a line of poetry, not at the end of the line).
Rhythm:
this is the natural rhythm found in all speech. Some syllables are stressed and some are not. Ron Padgett says, “Rhythm in writing is like the beat in music.”
Meter:
pre-established rhythmic patterns used in traditional poetic forms. For example, a very common meter is “iambic pentameter”, which is a count of ten syllables with every other syllable stressed: For example, read this line from Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “How
do
I
love
thee?
Let
me
count
the
ways
.” (Of course, most poetry is not sing-song, but has some variation in the meter. The syllables in this line could be emphasized in a number of ways.)
Theme:
what a poem is about.
Onomatopoeia:
The naming of a thing by imitating a sound associated with that thing, such as: slash, beep, or zoom. Read these lines from Alfred Tennyson’s poem “Come down, O Maid”: “The moan of doves in immemorial elms,/And murmuring of innumerable bees.”
Punctuation: Punctuation marks generally carry greater weight in poetry than in prose. Commas, periods, ellipses, dashes, and spaces all have an effect when it comes to creating rhythm (and affecting meaning) in a poem.
Discussion questions:
1.
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Define poetry. What makes poetry different from regular language? How is it the same?
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2.
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Do you think a poet’s job is harder or easier than a prose writer’s job?
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3.
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Explain what meter is. Wordsworth has noted that if the emotional content is tough, the meter can help regulate the emotions. How does this concept relate to rap music?
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Day 5:
Give students a game to play. Have them work in pairs or in teams. Have them circle and label as many of the above poetic elements as they can in “The Abolition of ManCHILD” by Mars ILL (or any other rap you choose). Have refreshments and a prize for the team that can identify the most correct elements in the rap.